Newsletter

Letters to the Editor Thursday

I was driving down the 204 bypass the other day and I noticed a billboard saying, “Obama can kiss my a**”

Wow, I could not believe my eyes.

This individual was telling the president of the United States to kiss his behind.

What a message for our young people. In these times when kids are disrespecting their parents, teachers and the elderly, this message was an insult to all Americans who live in this country.

You have the right to disagree with the policies of our president, but to tell him to kiss your a** is not the message we should be giving to our young people.

Some may like this message, but does everyone feel this way? Would you be telling our last president the same if this economy was not going the way you like? Were we better off after eight years of his policies?

I’m not going to debate this issue with you because it is a moot point. The point is disrespecting the president of the United States is like your child disrespecting you.

It sounds like the billboard owner needs a repeat class in Respect 101. I hope this is not how he respected his parents when he disagreed with them.

DR. VICTOR SINGLETON

Pooler

Gaster has right to express his frustration

The expression “kiss my a**” is as old as the English language. No other phrase is used more to express frustration.

Some even use it as a “term of endearment.”

I don’t think Ray Gaster had that in mind when he said, “Obama can kiss my a**.” His remarks had no racial overtones nor did he step over his right to express himself. The president did the stepping.

Gastor only said, “I built this business without government help.”

He also paid the price to have that voice, in 1968-1969 as an infantry captain in the U.S. Army and a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. He flew the CH-47 Chinook helicopter, earning both a Bronze Star and Air Medals.

May God bless this nation and its diversity. Truth should be the first thing found and hope the last thing lost.

REDS HELMEY

Savannah

Why City Council needs independent auditor

Savannah City Manager Rochelle Small-Toney has shown a blatant disregard for the city’s expense policies and great deal of dishonesty in reporting her expenses.

It is in the city’s best interest to terminate, with just cause, Small-Toney and find someone who is a more responsible city manager. The same rules that apply to city employees — responsible business expenditures, as well as timely and honest expense reporting — should apply to all individuals in our local government.

Even more troubling, (aside from double dipping on meals by accepting per diems then submitting receipts for the same meal) is the fact that Small-Toney’s expenses are “checked” not by an independent auditor, but by the city’s finance department. This, in essence, places Small-Toney’s employees in the position of reviewing her travel expenses and apparently puts Small-Toney above the law — at least in her mind.

I hope the mayor and city council do the right thing and replace Small-Toney with someone who is more responsible and better suited for city manager.

DAVID KONCUL

Pooler

Some public servants act like they’re entitled

Our city manager, Rochelle Small-Toney, has been racking up improperly reported, excessive travel-related expenses. I bet she feels no remorse. I bet she somehow feels victimized when our local newspaper reports her shenanigans.

Four-star Army General William “Kip” Ward, head of the Africa Command, was recently charged with inappropriate, unauthorized expenses including lavish hotel stays, spa visits and limo services for his wife’s shopping sprees.

These servants of the people are just two examples of what goes on every day across our country in every government office. The conclusion that big government functions as one bloated jobs program is unavoidable.

Too many people are paid too much to do too little. Is this why our military spending is almost as much as the military spending of all the other countries of the world combined? Or why public school employment has increased 10 times as fast as public school enrollment over the past 40 years?

How can this be? It’s easy enough to understand.

Government plays with other people’s money, forcibly obtained “for the common good.” Add to this an ingrained sense of entitlement and this boondoggling is what happens daily. Our government servants too often disdain serving us, the taxpayers, and serve themselves as if they were at an all-you-can-grab buffet.

Think about that the next time you interact with your government. Remember that you, the taxpayer, are employing these folks. Or maybe don’t think about it. Why ruin your naturally sunny disposition?

PAUL J. DRWIEGA

Savannah

TSPLOST question was a form of extortion

I’m a simple man who followed a calling in science rather than law or politics because I understood precise terms with fixed meanings, while in law and politics words seemed to have whatever meaning the conveyor could convince the conveyee he wanted them to mean.

Now when a county wants to build a road, the officials may apply to the state for funds the state collected in taxes from the county. To encourage local responsibility, the state requires matching funds raised within the county through such means as property tax paid by those individuals fortunate enough to own property, and taxes on local businesses fortunate enough to make a profit and fees that must be paid regardless of ones position in life.

As we were going to the polls to vote ourselves another penny tax for transportation projects, our governor released a statement that for those who voted another penny for T-SPLOST, they would get 90 percent matching funds. For those who didn’t step in line to support bigger government, they would only get 70 percent to match their hard-earned contributions.

In my simple social vocabulary, that is extortion.

But it gets worse. I just read that there are federal transportation plans to give Georgia 30 percent less than it had been receiving if Georgia does not increase its spending on roads.